Join Me On The Grand Old Podcast
November 13, 2012 | Filed Under Entertainment, Libertarian, Paleo-Skeptic, Podcasting, Republicans, Society/Culture | Comments Off
-By Paleo-Skeptic
I was chosen as a panelist for the Grand Old Podcast, a project from the libertarian site, the League of Ordinary Gentlemen; the podcast focusing on such issues as the future of the Republican Party in the wake of the defeat of Mitt Romney, etc.
For the record, I have always said that I thought we had two very good candidates in play. I think that we came up with the lesser of the two, but that is irrelevant.
I still believe that conservatism has a still has a vital role in our society. The message itself is one of empowerment– either an individual is capable of bettering themselves, regardless of whether they happen to be “behind the 8 ball,” or people will be increasingly and forever dependent on the benevolent paternalism of an increasingly malevolent government.
Read more
Are You a Conservative? Welcome to the Majority!
January 13, 2012 | Filed Under Congress, Conservatives, Democrats/Leftists, Elections, Ethics, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Liberals, Libertarian, President, Republicans, Senate, Socialism, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off
-By Warner Todd Huston
There has been a lot of lament by the far left in America that the Tea Party has somehow driven the Republican Party to conservative extremes. This, however, is untrue. The truth is, the American public has been trending toward conservative views for more than a decade before the Tea Party even came about.
According to Gallup, for the last three years more Americans have self-proclaimed themselves as conservatives than have claimed the moniker of moderate.
Political ideology in the U.S. held steady in 2011, with 40% of Americans continuing to describe their views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as liberal. This marks the third straight year that conservatives have outnumbered moderates, after more than a decade in which moderates mainly tied or outnumbered conservatives.
But think about this for a minute. This means that fully 75% of America is more conservative than the Democrat Party, a party that decades ago stopped being a party of centrism becoming instead a European-like, liberal party.
Gallup’s several decades of polling finds that “moderates” have been in slow decline since 1992 with Americans calling themselves “liberal” now only measuring at 21 percent. With this we see a nation that is not just center-right as many political pundits have for years claimed, but is actually trending conservative.
Read more
One Illinois Guy Who Won’t Be At TeaCon 2011
September 30, 2011 | Filed Under Budget, Business, Capitalism, Chicago, Conservatives, Economy/Finances, Free Trade, GOP, Government, Illinois, Libertarian, Republicans, Taxes, Tea Party, Warner Todd Huston | 1 Comment
-By Warner Todd Huston
Well, there is one local Illinois activist that apparently won’t be at this weekend’s TeaCon 2011, but not for want of trying. Bill Kelly, one-time candidate for Illinois Comptroller — he came in second, by the way — has told me that he’s been barred not only from getting media credentials for the event, but even from buying a ticket.
Kelly has a page on the Washington Times community section blogs and was told by the Times that he could get media creds representing them at TeaCon, but when he went to the event staff with his request TeaCon organizers denied his credentialing.
Kelly feels that people at WIND radio, one of the event co-hosts, put the kybosh on his credentials because of a recent dust up between Kelly and Senator Dick Durbin not to mention another dustup between Kelly and local TV reporter Jay Levine.
Read more
American Government Must Be Torn Down and Rebuilt
May 23, 2011 | Filed Under Anti-Americanism, Communism, Congress, Conservatives, Constitution, Democracy, Democrats/Leftists, Ethics, Free Speech, Freedom, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, House of Representatives, Judges, Law, Liberals, Libertarian, Liberty, Nanny State, Policy, President, Regulation, Republicans, Senate, Supreme Court, The Law, Transparency, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off
-By Warner Todd Huston
In New York you need a license to work as a gas pumper at a gas station. A contradiction since you do not need that expensive license, training, and government meddling to pump your own gas in New York. In Chicago it is supposedly illegal to fly a kite inside the city limits. In Delaware it is illegal to have a basketball hoop on your driveway. In nearly every city and town it is illegal to build a shed on your own property without government approval and fees spent to “allow” you to do so.
These are all examples of how the United States of America has fallen severely away from the land of liberty and personal freedom we once enjoyed. These are also examples of why we need politicians that will run on eliminating laws, regulations, a government meddling, not adding more.
We are being “governmented” to death, America. The nanny state has reached out to quash everything we as individuals want to do. We cannot put up a yard fence, we aren’t allowed to park certain vehicles on our own property, we cannot have garage sales without licenses, fees, “allowances,” and government meddling.
Read more
Yes, Folks, We All Would Legislate Morality (Psst, Even You Libertarians)
October 27, 2010 | Filed Under Constitution, Crime, Government, Corruption, Libertarian, Selwyn Duke, War On Drugs | Comments Off
-By Selwyn Duke
Really, I must be a glutton for punishment. During the past couple of weeks, I wrote two articles on libertarianism and made the point that for a law to be just, it must have a basis in morality. These commentaries evoked quite a response, ranging from lauding me as brilliant to lambasting me for not having two brain cells to rub together. And the negative responses were most notable. For daring to mention morality and law in the same breath, some implied I was like the Taliban, one respondent called me a “neoconservative” and a blogger said I was a socialist (yes, really, yours truly!). Pretty funny that, when talking about a man who proposed the Defense against Tyranny Amendment.
Now, to review the morality/law nexus in brief, I previously wrote (I recommend reading the first two pieces, here and here, for background):
Read more
Heartland Institute: A Night With P.J. O’Rourke
October 25, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Chicago, Congress, Elections, Government, Government, Corruption, Illinois, Liberals, Libertarian, Taxes, The Heartland Institute, Warner Todd Huston | Comments Off
-By Warner Todd Huston
On Oct. 20 I had the please of sitting in an intimate audience in downtown Chicago, Illinois invited to listen to one of America’s great wits, P.J. O’Rourke and what a fun night it was. The evening was sponsored by Chicago’s Heartland Institute, a free market policy group.
O’Rourke’s latest book is titled Don’t Vote It Just Encourages the Bastards. I was lucky enough to get my copy signed by the author that evening.
Don’t Vote is a brilliant, disturbing, hilarious, and ultimately sobering look at why politics and politicians are a necessary evil – but only just barely necessary.
Read more
Libertarianism’s Folly: When the ‘Live and Let Live’ Mentality Becomes Vice
October 12, 2010 | Filed Under Budget, Congress, Constitution, Democrats/Leftists, Federalism, Founders, GOP, Government, Government, Corruption, History, House of Representatives, Liberals, Libertarian, Republicans, Selwyn Duke, Taxes, Thomas Jefferson | Comments Off
-By Selwyn Duke
While there was a time when I might have described myself as a libertarian, those days are long gone. In fact, I don’t even call myself a conservative anymore. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I agree with libertarians on many issues, and their governmental model is vastly preferable to what liberals have visited upon us. Yet there is a problem: However valid their vision of government may be, their vision of society renders it unattainable.
Thomas Jefferson once said, “The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.” Now, I certainly agree with the first sentence, as it’s merely a statement of the obvious. But then we have to ask, what constitutes “injurious”? And, when determining this, do we completely ignore indirect injury? Then, if we do consider the latter, to what extent should it be the domain of government? (When pondering these matters, note that the Founding Fathers didn’t reside on the modern libertarian page. They certainly would have, for instance, supported the idea of state and local governments outlawing pornography and would be appalled at what is now justified under the First Amendment.)
Read more
Social Networking
Help the Soldiers!
American Genius
Our Founding Ideas- The Declaration of Independence
- The Federalist Papers
- The U.S. Constitution
- Debates of 1787
- The Anti-Federalist Papers
- The Writing of John Locke
"Governments are instituted among men,deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed." Declaration of Independence July 4, 1776
Recently Written
Featured Sites
What THEY Say:
Foreign News In English
Illini Alliance
Blogroll
of Thinking
Political Parties
Contact Us
Email Publius' ForumArchives
Links
Other Blogs
MilBlogs
Religion
Gun Rights
Education
Separation of School
from State
Radio Hosts
| Blog: |
| Publius' Forum |
Topics: |
| Politics, News, Commentary |
